Archive for the ‘Funding’ Category

Continuing our CEO Profile Series, we feature Howard Mahran in this post. I enjoyed talking to Howard and hope you enjoy reading this post.
I met Howard Mahran, CEO of Deep Domain, Inc., based in Redmond WA, to get his perspective on startup experiences, Deep Domain and other things.
Mindful of the ...

We spoke to David Lischner, CEO of Valant Medical (www.valant.com). Valant provides a SaaS solution for practice management for psychiatrists and behavioral health professionals. Valant has been an Atlas portfolio company for many years now.
The interview was held in Valant offices in downtown Seattle. Here is the transcript:
Valant CEO: David ...

I had the pleasure of attending the much publicized Demo day for the Azure TechStars program. It was held at the Microsoft Executive Briefing Center. The atmosphere was certainly exciting and filled with energy as the Who’s Who of Seattle’s investing community rubbed shoulders with the entrepreneurs. Personally, it was ...

It’s mid-October and there’s been a good deal of traffic regarding the market and its impact on venture-backed companies. Several of these pieces have received broad distribution and have trickled down, perhaps to unintended and inappropriate recipients. I think they’ve exacerbated the warranted alarm brought on by the public markets.
Early-stage ...

Do I need to tell you about the importance of financial planning? Sheeesh, I hope not. Without a reasonable outlook, you don’t know how much money to raise now or when to start working on the next round or when to begin recruiting for needed positions.
Time Horizon
There are two time ...

One the most common discussions we have with entrepreneurs relates to valuation of their A round. Series A stock is quite difficult to value - the company typically has no revenues, the team is incomplete, the story is compelling. These factors mash against each other on the whiteboard ...

Ahhhh, convertible notes. So easy to use, such a comfortable way to avoid the “v” discussion (valuation), so simple to understand. But why aren’t they universally loved?
Let’s think about convertible notes in two classes – standard and “true convertibles”. Standard notes are used more often than ...

For those of us who work regularly with the venture community, we take certain rules or behaviors for granted. I’m occasionally blindsided by an entrepreneur’s (completely reasonable) questions or false assumptions about how to handle venture meetings. It’s been said, and rightfully so, that I’m a fan of ...